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Daisy Moses Chief Crackpot's avatar

err... Nazis purported to represent "the people" and social improvements (at the expense of "some" people) did show initial benefits--but Hitler was funded by the bankers who got po'd when he went "too far" with their do-re-mi an' didn't foller orders! (SO they gave HIM his marchin' orders! AND of course Ameri-CONS got conned / killed to save the bankers' invest-mints--horrible) Another story fer another time, of course. That said, yes there were indeed death camps (ok to disagree on this one but there is plenty of documentation of this...) an' no it wasn't a hoax, yes there were labor camps that turned deadly, yes there were "show camps" to impress select journalist an' mask what was up there, yes the labor camps existed and were not the same as the death camps, yes, many died under the (dreadful deadful watch of the allies post-war--Patton was ruthless!) so there IS way more to the entire story--but I won't argue with ya t'day--it's a long wade in the weeds an' we're all "bizzy"--all that said, the "party before The Fall" is really what Cabaret is about--a doom-ahead! warnin' an' as Camille Paglia sez, when tranny stuff an' decadence peak, society falls. She tracks it--it's purdy consistent.

THUS with this comment ya made, I agree then! : "Cabaret is reflecting today's world quite accurately, although the players are different now."

Hint--some'a the same players! (same famblies... same bloodlines... )

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Daisy Moses Chief Crackpot's avatar

Agree with ya Ray all 'bout the dis-inta-gray-shun of the fambly an' the (purposeful!) cheapenin' of marriage, the dumbin' down've kids, etc! Feminism was mostly a Rockyfeller/CIA "joint" (tho' in some senses it did good cuz the "women shouldn't worry their purdy lil' heads" stuff was just gawd-awful an' NEEDED ta be opposed...) ... Rockefellers' (an' boyz they wuz...) wanted more lady consumers an' on the tax rolls (so more money would be comin' in ta steal!!!), CIA part've the plot to break up famlies, undermine what keep folks an' the danged country together!

NOW... in the midst of ALL THAT came Cabaret... it's a VERY adult film (seein' it at 16? wow!)--but it happens to be (imo) a great musical (Kander & Ebb!) an' a very-"gut" movie about DECADENCE (it's "old chum" by the way!) an' DEATH. It's exceedin'ly dark an' is not at all about "celebratin' " the wild an' wooly lives of the protagonists!

The film is about innocence lost, about very messed up folks whose outlier lives you DO NOT WANT TO EMULATE (this is made very clear in the film...), an' the downfall of Weimar Society to the Nazis who were even WORSE an' of course more decadent. That film is a twisted Tarantella! (NOT a celebration of the Cabaret livestyle at all!) Sally & friends are RUINED as is Germany... two sides of the same coin... the Nazi show IS a show too (an evil one, of course...) The film is a Tower of Babel tale (look out, it's about ta crasssssh!) an' one I'd say is downright CAUTIONARY...

The Cabaret song is ironic--it's not sayin' that this is a "fun show" so join it; ruther' it's sayin' that in this life there are all sorts of "players" an' many GOT PLAYED (eg. the unfaithful nature of the affairs, shady business deals, spyin', infidelity an' finkin' on "friends" etc... that ALL happen in the show an' is NOT held up as good at all!). So in some ways the "show" magnifies such infidelities, the decadence, the mostly BAD stuff society manifests...holds a mirror up to Rome before the FALL...

So if you see it just as somethin' promotin' "naughty" or careless entertainment (I mean life---an' the show TOO), yer missin' the whole message 'bout theater reflectin' what's go'in on in so-sigh-a-tea which was WHAT pre-sippy-tated the take-over by the SS! VERY dark stuff...

The music an' performances in that moo-sicle are TOPS... but again' it's a cautionary an' ironic tale... an' the Life is a Cabaret message--is more in line with (equally cautionary) All the world's a stage... than applausin' decadence... Indeedy (I won't go inta the back story stuff...) the influences are Brechtian / of strong social criticism.

Today's gawd-awful new moo-sicles have shape-shifted into something REALLY toxic with untuneful numbers--but Cabaret shines as sparklin' beacon 've caution an' pending doom! (It ain't fer the fainthearted OR for 16 year olds tho--golly!) It's a far more mature moo-sicle (in terms of demands made on the audi-ants) an' no doubt some mebbe didn't git it? (not a "rye eye" in the house?! really?)

But mebbe it's worth a revisit... that is if ya like moosicles!

ps not sure if yer a Michael York fan (I sure am!) but the man had a good singin' voice (he toured in Camelot)--but they wouldn't let 'im sing in the movie--STRANGE but true!

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